Monday, November 29, 2010

Shopping ... Christmas ... Cars ... Trees

Can you tell that I don't really know how to use herbs in my cooking?
I really need a class. The things are drying naturally outside in the "breeze". Snow has slid in through the screen over the weekend ... and now the wind is back again. Yuck.

We did enjoy some Black Friday shopping. Anna, Tia and I went out early in the morning on Friday. It felt like I did more shopping over the weekend than I've done in the entire year. Have to say that I joined the rest of the country in "shopping sales for myself". I was pumped to find this little goodie on sale at Target. My pictures are now safely stored on an external hard drive that should have enough room to store photos for me until I've reached about 100 years old. My computer is still limping on it's last leg ... no Cyber Monday shopping.

Daylight is getting shorter every day. Today my window to the world at work got frosted stripes over it. I could have nearly cried. I love those big sheets of glass. It's from there that I watch the sunlight moving across the parking lot at work. I can tell what the weather is doing outside at just a glance. Not anymore. Now I'll really have to work at seeing it. Or lay on the floor. I might just do that!

It's dark by 4:30 pm and all I know is that I go to work in the dark. Another 22 days until Winter Solstice ... and then the light of summer is around the corner. Days like today (dark and gusting 75 mph winds) make me wonder what on earth I'm doing living here. Come the quickly increasing days of sunlight in our world, and increasing heat in yours, I'll remember why I'm here. For the moment.

We ended our weekend with a most frustrating game of Scrabble. Ever played one of those? They go on forever and don't seem to get any better. You could just cry with relief when they're over? That kind.

Monday is nearly over. Thank goodness.
** The truck to the shop today for something vital that cost a pretty penny.
** The solitary key to one vehicle went missing over the weekend and it (the car, not the key) got towed home today. Read that as Open Checkbook Wider ... Again.
** I need a massage in the worst way. I hunch over in the cold and pretty soon my hunched over back muscles feel like they're squeezing my lungs. I just need a massage. It has pretty much moved from the want category to the need category.
** Dentist appointment tomorrow for Tia ... which means I'm also off of work.
** Laundry pile is heaped and unfolded at last glance. Don't really want to glance right now. Have a hunch that it didn't miraculously fold itself since Last Glance.

On a bright Monday note, I must share a blog for you to read. The Christmas tree saga. We still don't have one this year. For the first many years of our married life, we had a real live tree. Growing up in Northern Minnesota, it was just not tolerable to have a fake tree, even if I was living in the desert. Then a family died in Chicago one Christmas from a Christmas tree that caught fire. That was it. I promptly moved to a fake tree. Sure was cheaper and it felt a lot safer with a houseful of littles.

Now we're in the land of trees gone wild. The first several years we were here, we actually ran to the Feed Barn in Palmer and bought a tree. Don't ask. Silly. It was more of a time thing. Tia and I were not going to cut down a tree somewhere. This roughing it only goes so far. Last year ... it was a fun Charlie Brown Tree from our yard. This year it will be the same. Should have done it over the weekend before the hurricane blew in.

I ramble. So, first we have Carol's saga. The family Christmas tree meets mouse tragedy. It could be interesting trying to find a tree to cut down in the metro Phoenix area, but at least there are the tree lots. All. Over. The. Place. (Just don't try finding a tree on Christmas Eve.) While we mourn the family Christmas tree ... it's probably time for a new one anyway. Happy Shopping Carol!

Then there is the other end of the earth. I never really thought about how you get a tree in tundra country. What do you do when there isn't a tree growing anywhere?! I found out what one family does. Check this out! I was quite impressed. I'll probably never pack my luggage for travel again without thinking of tarps and Christmas trees.

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About Me

We are a family that moved from city living in warm Arizona to the relative quiet of Alaska for 4 wonderful years. It had been a dream of ours for many years to live in Alaska and experience the Last Frontier. We were blessed to be able to have that experience. It is a regret that we will not face later in life. For that, among many things, I am thankful. For now, life now brings us back to Phoenix. I can't count how many times I've heard "are you back for good?" Perhaps we are. Perhaps we aren't. We continue to dream of summers chasing the salmon from stream to raging river in the beauty that is Alaska. In the meantime, I'll fill my life with children finishing their schooling, craft lists that are endless, family and friends. And as always, we'll continue to dream.